If you’ve read many of the gear reviews I’ve done on here, you’ll likely remember that my favorite bait to review is a frog. I get downright giddy each time one of those hollow-body baits come up for review, knowing that I’m about to get paid to get a bite on a frog. It just doesn’t seem fair really, and its a blessing I try not to take for granted.
This perk of the job is only paralleled by one other assignment— a jig review. As much as I love a blowup on a frog, there’s something equally as invigorating about the thump of a good old jig bite. Mmm. So today, it is my pleasure to share my thoughts on the latest jig I’ve been testing out, the Jewel PeeWee Spider Jig HD.
NOSTALGIA BUILT INTO PEEWEE JIGS
The Jewel PeeWee Spider Jig HD reminds me a lot of a beefed up Strike King Bitsy Bug jig. I spent a good bit of my childhood years tossing a Bitsy Bug around, especially on Lake Wheeler where my dad and I would go for a week with our bass club each fall.
The bass on Wheeler in the fall can be pretty picky, and aren’t typically all that big. A compact jig was just the ticket many times to draw a few strikes from the 1- to 2- pound class smallmouth and largemouth. And, on occasion, it lured a quality kicker in for a closer look.
Some of those better bites overpowered the traditional Bitsy Bug’s light-wire hook from time to time. That was admittedly my fault for using gear that was too heavy for it, as I tried to fish the jig back in denser cover. So I’d swap over to the Bitsy Flip sometimes, with its bolder and stronger hook. That did the job well in the thicker cover, but was a bit much when I’d swap back over to stretches with bare bank and smaller rock.
Those two jigs have been around for decades now and I’ve caught a lot of fish on them over the years. The PeeWee Spider Jig HD reminds me a lot of the two, really kind of hitting a sweet spot in between them.
ULTRA FINE SKIRT ON PEEWEE SPIDER HD JIG
This jig has a super-thin-stranded skirt. As Jewel puts it on their site, a Micro Finesse tech skirt or Pee Wee Skirt. It comes in 6 color selections, covering all the bases like PB&J, black and blue and my personal favorite, First Down, which has a nice mix of pale blue, pale green pumpkin and pale orange.
The thin-strand skirt creates a nice finesse look to the bait, almost bordering on some of the new skirted Ned rig baits that we’re seeing more of lately. Except this bait doesn’t have a Ned head.
REFINED PROVEN HEAD DESIGN ON PEEWEE SPIDER JIG
Jewel used their signature Pro Spider Jig head design with this bait. It’s almost a round head, with an upturned eye to help the bait come through rocky terrain and over cover. There’s what I would call a mid-size and mid-strength weedguard molded into the head of the bait, with about 20 bristles that are soft enough to allow for a light hookset but stiff enough to keep the hook from prematurely punching into anything, like cover.
The coating on the head of this jig really elevates it above many of it’s peers. I used one of these baits for a couple days without loosing it, around a lot of rock on one of those days. And the head is still in nearly pristine condition, with only a couple small scrapes. The paint or coating on most other jigs would have been long gone.
HOOK DESIGN UNIQUE
The hook on this thing looks pretty nasty. It’s Jewel’s HD Sickle Hook. The design has more of a V to the bend as opposed to the U found in round-bend hooks. This hook is said to pin fish better and keep them from coming loose. I did miss a few fishing using it, but they were likely small and short striking the trailer, based on several of the other bites I was getting in the area. I didn’t lose any fish on it though, and there were a couple that were really hooked well, to the point I almost reached for the pliers to get them undone.
The biggest bass I’ve caught using the PeeWee Spider Jig HD so far was a spot pushing 3 pounds, but I’d trust this hook with a 5-pound-plus fish no problem. Anything over 15-pound test fluorocarbon would really overpower the finesse situations that you’d likely want to use this bait in— so I’d say that you’d have a better chance of breaking your line on a fish that you would bending this hook out.
TRAILER KEEPER AND RATTLE HOLDER
The trailer keeper on this jig consists of a molded, raised lip with a slight front-to-back barb to it. There’s a rattle holder built into the shirt collar, so you could add a rattle or two to it if you’d like. The jig comes in a two-pack for $6.49, so about $3.25 apiece. This is a really, really well designed jig for that price.
If there’s a weak link, it’s the skirt, which will likely wear out from fish catches before you lose the jig, bend the hook or scuff up the head. But this is really a compliment in a way, offering a nod to the overall durability and design of the bait.
The color options are limited with only six choices, but there’s no waste here. The colors Jewel does offer in this jig will satisfy 95% of the anglers out there. Jewel just makes good jigs in general, with their Finesse Jig being my all-time favorite finesse jig. So it’s no surprise this jig packs a punch. Available in 5/16ths and 7/16ths, this little guy will give all other comparable jigs a run for their money.
You can find the PeeWee Spider HD Jig at TackleWarehouse.com.
